Bakersfield City School District
Instructional Support Services Division
March 2010
Issue: May a school district disclose personally identifiable information from a pupil record to appropriate persons in connection with an emergency?
Rule 1: “An educational agency or institution may disclose personally identifiable information from an education record to appropriate parties . . . in connection with an emergency if knowledge of the information is necessary to protect the health or safety of the student or other individuals” (Title 34, Code of Federal
Regulations, Section 99.36[a]).
Rule 2: “In making a determination under paragraph (a) of this section, an educational agency or institution may take into account the totality of the circumstances pertaining to a threat to the health or safety of a student or other individuals . . . (and must) determine that there is an articulable and significant threat to the health or safety of a student or other individuals . . . (and the disclos(ure) is made only to a) person whose knowledge of the information is necessary to protect the health or safety of the student or other individuals” (Title 34, Code of
Federal Regulations, Section 99.36[c]).
Analysis : Under California and federal law a school district may disclose information from a pupil record to appropriate parties in connection with an emergency if the disclosure is necessary to protect the health or safety of the student or other individuals (“Emergency Exception”) (See California Education Code Section 49076 subsection (b)(1); Title 34, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 99.36). Application of this legal authority requires definition of key terms: (1) emergency; (2) threat; (3) articulable threat; (4) significant threat; and (5) the circumstances under which a person needs access to pupil records to protect the health or safety of the student or other individuals (see 73 Federal Register 74806, 74828).
In “connection with an emergency” means related to the threat of an actual, impending, or imminent emergency
(e.g., terrorist attack, natural disaster, campus shooting, outbreak of an epidemic). A threat includes, but is not limited to, a threat of substantial bodily harm to any person. Use of the Emergency Exception requires the school official to express in words what led to the determination a threat existed (i.e., articulable). The
Emergency Exception also requires the threat to be noticeably or measurably large (i.e., significant).
Furthermore, for the disclosure to be justified, the person to whom pupil records are disclosed must be in a position to: (1) directly assist in protecting a person(s) from that threat; or (2) use the knowledge from those records to assist in protecting a person(s) from that threat. The Department of Education recommends school districts use a reasonable method to ensure education records are disclosed only to an authorized party (i.e., steps to authenticate the person’s identity).
When personally identifiable information from pupil records is disclosed under the Emergency Exception, the following must be recorded and maintained: (a) the articulable and significant threat to the health or safety of a pupil or other individuals that formed the basis for the disclosure; (b) the parties to whom the school district disclosed the information; and (c) the legitimate interests the parties had in protecting the health or safety of the pupil or another person(s). A copy of the record disclosed must be available in response to a parent's request to review the record (Title 34, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 99.32).
Conclusion: A school district may disclose personally identifiable information from a pupil record in connection with an emergency if knowledge of the information is necessary to protect the health or safety of the pupil or other person, the determination is based on an articulable and significant threat to the health or safety of a pupil or other individuals, and the disclosure is limited to those persons who can take protective actions.

Bakersfield City School District
Education Center - 1300 Baker Street
Bakersfield, CA 93305
Instructional Support Services Division
Introduction : Federal law permits exceptions to the student and family privacy protections (e.g., disclosures from a student record) if the record disclosure is in connection with an imminent emergency and the disclosure meets other legal tests established in law (Title
34, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 99.32
) . Use the information below to determine if the emergency release standards are applicable.
Student:
1.
Student Records Requested/Needed:
Date:
2.
Name/title of person to receive information:
3.
Method used to determine identity of person to receive information:
4.
Describe the actual, impending, or imminent emergency:
5.
If different than the emergency, describe the threat to the health or safety of the student or others:
6.
Describe why the threat is noticeably or measurably large (i.e., significant):
7.
List the individual(s) whose health or safety requires protection:
8.
List the person(s) to whom student records were disclosed, followed by a description of how that person can directly or can indirectly assist in protecting a person from the threat:
___
___
Emergency did not exist or a substantial and articulable threat could not be identified.
All requirements for emergency disclosure were met, information was released, and documentation has been completed including a copy of the disclosed information attached to this form. c: file